The present invention is generally directed to electrical connectors and more particularly to interstage connectors for interconnecting power and/or signal circuits of adjacent guided missile stages. Specifically, the present invention relates to an electrical connector wherein the contact members supported within the connector component housings may be engaged and disengaged independently of the engagement and disengagement of the housings.
Guided missiles and rocket systems generally include a number of aligned stages for launching and flight control purposes. Prior to in-flight separation of one missile stage from its adjacent and subsequently operative stage, various power and signal circuits of the adjacent missile stages are often electrically interconnected. Electrical interstage connectors are therefore required for performing such electrical connections between the circuits of adjacent missile stages.
Interstage electrical connectors of the above type must satisfy a wide variety of performance requirements. Such requirements include quick disconnection of the interstage connector and its associated electrical circuits, as well as effective shielding of the connector contact members from electromagnetic pulses generated by close proximity of nuclear blasts, electromagnetic and radio frequency interference primarily from radar equipment, and environmental debris and contaminants. Such protection must be effective when the connector is operative as well as after separation of the connector components and missile stages. While many prior interstage electrical connectors do satisfy a variety of these requirements, there is one problem which has not been previously satisfactorily overcome and is associated with the separation of the interstage connector components and missile stages.
A majority of prior interstage connectors utilize pin and socket type electrical contact members which are aligned substantially parallel with the connector's central axis. Thus, the connector contact members must be engaged and disengaged along a line substantially parallel with the central axis of the connector component housings if damage to the contact elements is to be prevented. Furthermore, the housings of such prior connectors are generally adapted to engage and disengage simultaneously with their contact members.
When utilized between two adjacent missile stages, such prior interstage connector housings and contact members were generally arranged for quick disconnection along a plane different from the separation plane of the missile stages. Thus, the manner in which the missile stages separated had minimal effect on the proper separation of the connector housings and contact elements. However, it has been recognized that significant advantages can be achieved if the planes of separation of the interstage connector components and the missile stages are the same. Such advantages include the fact that the connector housings can be arranged within and adjacent the separation surfaces of the two abutting missile stages. In this manner, the mechanism for maintaining the adjacent missile stages in abutting relationship can also be used to maintain the connector housings fully interengaged. Furthermore, factory assembly of the entire missile is simplified and enhanced.
The above referenced problem with prior interstage connectors is that since the contact members thereof are generally adapted to disengage along a line substantially parallel with the central axis of the connector, and the contact members and connector housings are adapted to disengage simultaneously, the connector housings must also be disengaged along such a line. However, when the separation planes of the missile stages and the connector components are the same, the connector housings generally are not disengaged along a line parallel to the axis of the connector, for the lighter, exhausted missile stage and its associated connector housing tend to fall away at an angle relative to the operative missile stage and its associated connector housing. Thus, when the connector housing and contact members are separated simultaneously, the above described tendency of the connector housings to separate along an angular line relative to the connector central axis tends to damage the contact members of the operative missile stage connector component. In certain instances, severe damage can occur to the operative missile stage connector's contact members and/or to the protective shielding therefor.
Such damage to the contact members of the housing disposed in the operative missile stage can be quite harmful in that the power circuits of the various interstage connectors of the entire missile are generally arranged in series. Thus, even though an interstage connector has been disengaged and the missile stages separated, the power line passing through the connector component remaining with the operative missile stage is still part of a circuit connected to the remaining missile stages. If the contact members of this connector housing are damaged, the power circuit may be shorted, and this can result in termination of the power through a line common to some or all the signal and/or power lines of the remaining missile stages. Thus, while the contact members of the connector housing remaining with the operative missile stage are no longer operative with respect to directly receiving a current from another operative missile stage circuit, these contact members must nonetheless remain intact and undamaged. They must also remain shielded from electromagnetic interference, electromagnetic pulses and environmental contaminants. Prior interconnectors do not prevent such damage to the connector contact elements and/or shielding material.